Roger Bart

James Gandolfini, the Emmy-winning actor who swaggered his way to fame as the murderous, clinically depressed mob boss on HBO's groundbreaking drama "The Sopranos," died Wednesday on vacation in Rome. He was 51.

The cause was a heart attack or stroke, HBO officials said. A Rome hospital confirmed that Gandolfini had been brought there for treatment.

The "Sopranos," recently named the best TV show of all time by the Writers Guild of America, ran on HBO from 1999 to 2007 and starred Gandolfini as barrel-chested New Jersey Mafia capo-turned-boss Tony Soprano.

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James Gandolfini, the Emmy-winning actor who swaggered his way to fame as the murderous, clinically depressed mob boss on HBO's groundbreaking drama "The Sopranos," died Wednesday on vacation in Rome. He was 51.
The cause was a heart attack...